The Questing Heart by Elizabeth Ashton Read Free Book Online Page A

'Shall we have to knock someone up?' He felt responsible for Clare's condition and did not want to have to face an indignant Monica.
    'Round to back,' Clare told him.
    'Ah yes, your secret entry.' He guided her round the house and found the back door unlatched with a dim light shining in the passage beyond. Clare slumped against him, and he said sternly :
    'Pull yourself together and get yourself upstairs to bed.'
    Clare giggled feebly but made no move to free herself from his arm. She looked childishly vulnerable and Chris cursed himself for having landed her in this state. He wondered whether he should risk discovery by conducting her to her room, or whether it would be wiser to leave her in the kitchen which would provide her with poor comfort for the rest of the night. His dilemma was solved by the arrival of Marie-Celeste. The maid looked with amusement at Clare's tousled head lying against Christopher's shoulder and said something in French which caused Chris to frown and tell her not to be impertinent, it was not as she supposed.
    'Mademoiselle Underwood is not feeling well,' he said glibly. 'Can you get her up to bed?'
    He handed the maid a folded note, which she pushed into the front of her dress.
    'Hush-money,' she said impudently. 'I take it as a sign of goodwill, monsieur, but I do not need to be bribed to give the care to Mademoiselle. I am glad she has found a lover.'
    Clare became vaguely aware that Marie-Celeste was under a misapprehension.
    'No ... no...' she objected. 'Boss, new boss, not lover.'
    Marie-Celeste winked. 'Same thing.'
    'Not at all,' Chris corrected her. 'I never mix love and business.' He shook Clare. 'Remember you must give in your notice tomorrow.'
    Clare lifted a dazed face towards his.
    'Kiss me goodnight.'
    'Oh, go along with you.' He pushed her towards Marie- Celeste..'She doesn't know what she's saying—my fault, I'm afraid. Goodnight, ladies.'
    Marie-Celeste watched his hurried exit with appreciative eyes.
    'Mon dieu, but he is ravissant! Come along, mademoiselle, doucement, we must not wake Madame.'
    The sturdy maid practically carried Clare's much slighterform upstairs, and dumping her on her bed, proceeded to undress her.
    'Sleep it off,' she said kindly. 'Ces jeunes hommes, they give a silly girl too much wine and it is all over. Mais, moi, I would not mind being seduced by that one.'
    Clare did not hear her for she was already asleep.
    She awoke with a headache and no recollection of her arrival at the villa on the previous night, so that Marie- Celeste's conspiratorial air when she brought her an early cup of tea was lost upon her. But she did remember very clearly that she had pledged herself to work for Christopher Raines and Monica had to be informed.
    She approached her after breakfast, stating that she had been offered a better situation and wished to leave. Mrs Cullingford was taken aback and proceeded to give her a long lecture about the folly of leaving her erudite establishment where an intelligent girl could learn so much if she watched and listened and her regret that she was unable to appreciate her privileges, winding up with the reminder that she was entitled to a month's notice.
    'Not that you'll be difficult to replace,' she said loftily, 'but I need time to pick and choose, next time I must make sure I have engaged the right person.'
    Clare meekly accepted the snub and said she was prepared to stay the requisite period, though she knew it would be a very trying month. To her relief Monica did not ask where she was going or who was employing her, not that she had any intention of telling her. Monica had already dismissed her from her mind and was thinking that it would be more amusing to engage a male secretary who would give her the adulation, real or feigned, that Clare could not bring herself to pretend. She wondered if there were any chance of persuading that delightful Mr Raines to accept the post, which would be mutually beneficial as she could give him